The year was 1997 and Kajol stormed into Tamil cinema, singing Ooh La La La with gay abandon.
After Minsara Kanavu , she got offers. Lots of them. But didn’t take up anything — until the script of VIP2 was narrated to her a while ago. In a candid chat with MetroPlus, she reveals why she zeroed in on this film.
You’re back to Tamil after such a long time...
The truth is that I didn’t know if I could do justice to a film in another language. I wanted to be sure I could give it the same 100% feel and effort as I would in Hindi. Dhanush and Soundarya (the film’s director) lied to me saying half the dialogues were in English. They got me to do the film on false pretences.
So, a lie convinced you to make a comeback to an industry?
(laughs) At first, nothing appealed to me. I thought, ‘They’re sweet people and coming to me with an offer but I’m not in that space at all.’ Dhanush insisted I listen to the script. It was really nice, but there was a huge problem: I just don’t know Tamil. It’s a big block in my head. He convinced me saying that most of my dialogues would not be in Tamil. When I got the dialogue paper on the sets, I realised that they had lied through their teeth! It took me three days to figure out a way through it, and that happened only thanks to Dhanush and Soundarya. By the end of the shoot, I was speaking half a page of Tamil, very proudly.
Was the fact that you were playing Vasundhara, a character with shades of grey, a compelling factor?
I do not think of Vasundhara as a negative character. VIP2 is about the clash of two people with different ideologies. They’re absolutely convinced that the other one is wrong. That’s the storyline.
Did you take Ramya Krishnan’s portrayal of Neelambari in Padayappa as a reference?
Not really. I am pretty much Vasundhara Parameshwar myself too. She’s someone who doesn’t like any tags or labels — like a gender tag, a CEO tag — to be what she is. She’s a self-made woman.
Have you watched the first part ( VIP ) and Dhanush taking on ‘Amul Baby’?
No, I haven’t yet. Dhanush was very irritated that I hadn’t and insisted that I watch at least one of his films .
What did you make of his acting method, considering you’ve been in the industry for a long time now?
He’s a fine actor and has a lot of nuances. He has a definite style that is very much him. I had a great time working with him — in fact, we improvised a lot during our scenes together.
Is it true that the character of Vasundhara was originally written for a male star and then changed?
No, it was always a ‘she’.
During a recent interview, Sridevi commented on how it is imperative that she relates with the character before taking it up. Are you also in that phase now?
Yes. Every character I play needs to have a certain something inside her that I identify with. I’ve in fact refused several films in which I couldn’t relate one bit with the character that was being narrated.
Can you recall one memory from Minsara Kanavu that you remember fondly...
The days we spent shooting Vennilavae , one of the best tracks ARR has ever composed. Even today, I vividly recall the way we shot it. It will remain one of the best choreographed songs ever.
